Ok, Houston, I guess the word is out. Yes, Kevin, Morgan, and I are opening  a new bar, and we hope to bring back the long overdue nostalgia and joy of classic cocktails to our city. Our new bar, Anvil, located at 1424 Westheimer, will be opening in mid-November. Beneath the decades of former bar structure and traffic, lies a beautiful building with priceless windows, historic brick, and exciting features that are certain to make Anvil a site to see.

Of course, there will be cocktails as well. This time, however, the cocktails will receive the same attention they receive at the nation’s best cocktails bars. We will have several types of ice, an enormous supply of unique spirits, the best bartenders in the city, and a cocktail list that actively seeks to banish the apple martini forever from Houston! Over the last year, I have learned one thing above all others: I love making cocktails for Houstonians! I can’t wait to show Houston more of history’s lost cocktails and our own modern inventions with tools that every cocktail deserves.

In addition to great cocktails, Anvil will have a carefully stocked wine cellar built in an old loft positioned over the bar. Our beer list will include the best microbrews in the country, and we will offer alternative taps at all times that will change every week. We want Anvil to be a comfortable, but intriguing space that asks people to enjoy their time with friends with a good drink in their hands. What else could you ever ask for?

Kevin and I have enjoyed our time at Beavers, and we want to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone who has supported us this far. It is exciting to know that a local interest in the cocktail is alive and well. In addition to those who have sat at the bar at Beavers, we would like to thank our owners and chefs, especially Dax McAnear, for their support throughout our tenure at a restaurant we have come to love. Dax has taught me more about food and drinks than everyone else I have ever known combined, and I certainly wouldn’t be in this position without his friendship and persistent encouragement. It is difficult at times to deviate from a proven norm in this industry, and I hope that Beaver’s faith in our perspective has been as rewarding for the restaurant as it was for us.

Anyway, I’ve got to get back behind the bar at Beavers. I will be there for a while longer while Anvil takes shape. Kevin’s last day however is tomorrow, Saturday, August 30th, so get in there and let him make you a drink.  In the meantime, you might see the blog take a hit from all the work that will be going into Anvil. After the bar opens, we will get back to posting more frequently and will certainly have a ton of material to discuss. I apologize to anyone who has emailed me over the past few weeks and has not received a reply. I am trying, but I don’t really even have time to sleep. All I do everyday is build a bar and work in another – life is hectic, but everything a cocktail nerd dreams of. I hope to see you all at Anvil in November.

...courtsey of www.drinkdogma.com

So many different people have so many different types of jobs, but how do you look for a job when you don't know what you are looking for? They teach you in school how to learn and how to grow and how to pursue one profession that you love. What they don't teach you is what you do when you decide to change your mind and switch career choices. They don't explain what you are supposed to do when the jobs you are looking at are requiring experience that you just don't have.

This seems to be the situation I'm in. I am looking for jobs in I.T. but have almost no background information in them. I know almost no programming languages, and have no research experience in the field of math. What is someone to do when they are not qualified for the jobs they want, but need a job to hold them over for a year.

Due to this crazyness I may just end up having a throw away job and apply for a PhD program for next year in math. It seems that over 90% of jobs require a PhD or a masters degree in Math. Since I have neither I am finding it very difficult to find a job. I'm hopping something will come up through internet search after internet search, but who knows what I will find.

So for now I keep searching.

Joblessly,
-The Cali Garmo

When it comes to CSS, there are lots of resources and supposed "expert tips" on the web. These are from unproven, self-proclaimed "gurus" who have no street cred in the design world. While they may have valid points, how is one to know whether a CSS tip is a valid resource or just an untested hack?

Instead of relying on unknown sources for advice, let's look deeply into designers who have excellent design backgrounds and have walked the walk. These CSS tips are gathered from some of the most respected designers on the planet. They have the portfolios to back their advice up, so you'll know that each tidbit of advice is of the highest quality.

Below are 10 excellent principles that any web developer or designer can find useful, meaningful, or challenging. Consider this sage advice from journeymen (and women) who have walked the long, hard road of design excellence. These are the true masters of CSS. Drink deep from their knowledge and take their wisdom on your next designing adventure.

1. Keep CSS simple - Peter-Paul Koch

What bothers me most about the mindset of CSS hackers is that they are actively searching for complicated solutions. Seek and ye shall be found, if you want complexity it’ll take you by the throat. It’ll never let go of you, and it won’t help you, either.

Peter-Paul Koch is a godfather of web development. While he's an old-school developer and the bulk of his web portfolio was between 1998-2002, he's worked with the likes of Apple and other heavyweights. He's written a book on javascript, but don't think for a second he doesn't have anything to say about CSS.

The danger of CSS hacks

Koch has addressed something that every designer and web developer should follow with zeal: Keep your CSS simple. Simplicity is a hard thing to achieve, especially in CSS design. There are a myriad of CSS hacks that one can find for making all browsers look the same, regardless of version or type. Yet there's a fundamental flaw with using many CSS hacks. As web browsers evolve, it's much harder to keep up with the changes.

Koch makes an interesting point about developing for the web. The Internet as as whole is a very unpredictable place, and trying to second-guess the way it will work in the future is a very bad strategy.

The Web is an uncertain place. You’ll never be sure that your Web sites will work in the exact way you want them to work, not even when you apply all modern insights from CSS, accessibility and usability. Instead of seeking false comfort in hacks that seem all the more comfortable because of their complexity, you should accept uncertainty as a basic principle.

Browsers don’t have perfect CSS support; especially for people who’ve just started learning CSS, that can be infuriating. Nonetheless CSS hacks are not the solution. Acceptance of the way the Web currently works is the best way to go because it’ll keep your sites simple.

Peter-Paul has hit on something that rings true for not only CSS, but for web development as a whole. Simplicity is key for efficiency in coding.

2. Keep CSS declarations in one line - Jonathan Snook

Jonathan Snook is an incredibly popular designer from Ottawa, Canada who's made his name in web standards and design. He's spoken at prestigious conferences like SXSW and has published quite a few technical resources on design through Sitepoint.

One of Jonathan's tenants to coding CSS is to keep declarations in one line.

The second one may look prettier but it sure doesn't help me find anything. When looking for something in a style sheet, the most important thing is the ruleset (that's the part before the { and } ). I'm looking for an element, an id or a class. Having everything on one line makes scanning the document much quicker as you simply see more on a page. Once I've found the ruleset I was looking for, find the property I want is usually straightforward enough as there are rarely that many.

Jonathan goes on to give an example for single line declarations that looks like this:

Good

{font-size:18px; border:1px solid blue; color:#000; background-color:#FFF;}

Bad

h2 {
font-size:18px;
border:1px solid blue;
color:#000;
background-color:#FFF;
}

Not only does this approach help with quickly scanning your CSS, it also helps in keeping your CSS file smaller by removing unneeded spaces and characters.

3. Use CSS shorthand - Roger Johansson

Most people know about and use some shorthand, but many don’t make full use of these space saving properties.

Roger Johansson knows a thing or two about designing for the web. The Swedish web designer has been working on the Internet since 1994, and has a popular web design blog. When it comes to simple and elegant solutions, Roger is one of the most knowledgeable in his field.

Johansson has a very in-depth article on the importance of CSS shorthand, and gives quite a few examples of how to use it while coding CSS. Here's an example:

Using shorthand for these properties can save a lot of space. For example, to specify different margins for all sides of a box, you could use this: margin-top:1em; margin-right:0; margin-bottom:2em; margin-left:0.5em; But this is much more efficient: margin:1em 0 2em 0.5em; The same syntax is used for the padding property.

While CSS shorthand reduces the size of the stylesheet, it also helps organize and keep the code simple. Beautiful CSS is simple CSS.

4. Allow block elements to fill space naturally - Jonathan Snook

Mr. Snook has another piece of crucial advice that every web developer should live by: allow block elements to fill space organically. If there's one recurring theme in CSS development, it's to not force the code to do things it isn't meant for. This means avoiding CSS hacks and finding the simplest solution possible.

My rule of thumb is, if I set a width, I don't set margin or padding. Likewise, if I'm setting a margin or padding, I don't set a width. Dealing with the box model can be such a pain, especially if you're dealing with percentages. Therefore, I set the width on the containers and then set margin and padding on the elements within them. Everything usually turns out swimmingly.

Jonathan's rule of thumb is great for ensuring that your layouts won't break and that the simplest approach is used when creating layouts with block elements.

5. Set a float to clear a float - Trevor Davis

Floating is probably one of the most important things to understand with CSS, but knowing how to clear floats is necessary too.

Trevor Davis may not be as big of a name as Zeldman or Snook in the design world, he surely deserves some mention just based on his excellent portfolio of web layouts. His blog is an excellent resource for any web developer wanting to brush up on his design chops.

Clearing floats

In Trevor's flagship article The 6 Most Important CSS Techniques You Need To Know, he's added a nugget that can save many headaches when using columns in your layouts.

I have created a simple page with two floating columns next to each other. You will notice in the example that the grey background does not contain the floating columns. So, the easiest thing to do is to set the containing element to float. But now, you will see that the container background doesn’t contain the content area.

Since the container has margin: 0 auto, we do not want to float it because it will move it to whichever side we float it. So another way to clear the float, is to insert a clearing element. In this case, I just use an empty div set to clear: both. Now, there are other ways to clear a float without markup, but I have noticed some inconsistencies with that technique, so I just sacrifice an empty div.

6. Use negative margins - Dan Cederholm

Sometimes it’s easier to deal with the exception to the rule, rather than add declarations for all other elements around it.

Dan Cederholm's company SimpleBits is a powerhouse of a design company. Dan's worked with the likes of:

• Google
• Blogger
• MTV
• Fast Company
• Inc.com

... and many other high-profile web companies. Fortunately, Dan passes on some of the knowledge he's learned working with these massive names on his blog at SimpleBits. Here's a rule of thumb for you web designers and developers: If Dan Cederholm says anything, you listen. Think of him as a digital sherpa, guiding you to the crest of your design mountain.

Negative margins

While it may seem counterintuitive to put a negative in front of any declaration (like margin-left: -5px), it's actually quite a good idea. Mr. Cedarholm explains that using negative margins on elements are sometimes easier than having to change every other aspect of the design to make it align they way you want.

There are situations when using negative margins on an element can be the easiest way to “nudge” it out from the rest, treating the exception to the rule in order to simplifiy code.

You can see his example of proper negative margin usage here.

7. Use CSS to center layouts - Dan Cederholm

"How do I center a fixed-width layout using CSS?" For those that know, it’s simple. For those that don’t, finding the two necessary rules to complete the job can be frustrating.

It's no surprise that Dan is going to make this list twice. Centered layouts are on the surface a very simple idea, but for some reason they don't always work as easily as advertised. Centering layouts with CSS can be a frustrating endeavor for a beginner if they've never tried it before.

Dan's got a tried-and-true method that he uses frequently to achieve centered-layout nirvana.

#container { margin: 0 auto; width: xxxpx; text-align: left; }

Many modern designs rely on centered layouts, so using this method will at some point come in handy for web developers and designers.

8. Use the right DOCTYPE - Jeffrey Zeldman

You’ve written valid XHTML and CSS. You’ve used the W3C standard Document Object Model (DOM) to manipulate dynamic page elements. Yet, in browsers designed to support these very standards, your site is failing. A faulty DOCTYPE is likely to blame.

Jeffrey Zeldman is one of the co-founders of the excellent resource site A List Apart, co-founded and ran The Web Standards Project, runs the Happy Cog design studio, and even wrote the book on designing for web standards. In short, Zeldman is in the upper-echelon of web designers.

DOCTYPE misunderstanding

The DOCTYPE of a web page is one of the most overlooked aspects of design. Using the right DOCTYPE is crucial, and Zeldman explains why.

Using an incomplete or outdated DOCTYPE—or no DOCTYPE at all—throws these same browsers into “Quirks” mode, where the browser assumes you’ve written old-fashioned, invalid markup and code per the depressing industry norms of the late 1990s.

Zeldman stresses the importance of a) actually using a DOCTYPE, and points out that you have to add an url in the declaration like so:

If you're finding unexplained problems with your layouts, odds are the DOCTYPE could be the problem.

9. Center Items with CSS - Wolfgang Bartelme

Centering items is a frequent task when designing websites. But for people that are new to CSS it’s mostly kind of enigma how to center for example a whole website in browsers other than IE.

Wolfgang Bartelme is a web designer with Bartelme design, a web design firm. Bartelme has one of the most elegantly-designed blogs, and continually creates excellent icon and design work. He's done design work for the blogging platform Squarespace, as well as the popular software event MacHeist.

Wolfgang has created a tutorial that helps with the complicated task of centering elements with CSS. Centered elements are insanely useful, but are sometimes hard to achieve given the design. Bartelme's tutorial ensures centered alignment by choosing the right DOCTYPE and making adding his CSS voodoo. The code nothing fancy and gets the job done, and falls directly in line with striving for simplicity in CSS.

10. Utilize text-transform commands - Trenton Moss

Trenton Moss knows web usability. He has his own web usability company that trains people in usability training and web writing. He also writes for sites like Sitepoint. Trenton gives excellent tips based on his experience as a web usability expert.

It's a simple fact that designs change over time, especially in the way text is displayed on websites. The best thing a web designer can do is plan for the future to make sure that instead of having to manually change the way text is displayed, it's best to use CSS to change the appearance of the text. Trenton Moss shows us how to achieve this through the use of a simple, underused CSS command called text-transfom.

One of the lesser known, but really useful CSS commands is the text-transform command. Three of the more common values for this rule are: text-transform: uppercase, text-transform: lowercase and text-transform: capitalize. The first rule turns all characters into capital letters, the second turns them all into small letters, and the third makes the first letter of each word a capital letter.

By using CSS to display the appearance of text on the site, it allows for change in the future and keeps things consistent over time.

This command is incredibly useful to help ensure consistency in style across an entire Website, particularly if it has a number of content editors. Say for example your style guide dictates that words in headings must always begin with capital letters. To ensure that this is always the case, use text-transform: capitalize. Even if site editors forget about the capitalisation, their mistake won't show up on the Website.

While text-transform is a small thing to add to add to a css layout, it can make a world of difference in the future when changes need to be made.

In other news...Jason started school tonight!  We're having 2 -first days this week.  He is enrolled and starting on his master degree tonight.  He will only meet one night a week, but who knows how many nights a week he'll be doing school work.  I/we are so proud of him!  (Kelsea thinks it is 'cool' (her words), that daddy is starting school too)  I remember way back when he didn't think he was going to get his bachelors, and now he's going to add to it!  Way to go babe!

I'm excited about the two classes that I'm taking this fall. They're very pertinent to what I do at work (well...that's the idea, really - the whole degree is!), and perhaps more importantly they're actually topics that I'm interested in.

I'm nervous about the time commitment - 5.5 hours of class one night a week (with two weeks of 2 nights - one a holiday make up and one because my two classes overlap by a week). Plus whatever reading and assignments I have in between classes. My nervousness is rooted in the fact that I'm still training for the Breast Cancer 3 Day, so for the month of September I'll be walking an average of 34 miles each week, which works out to about 12 hours of walking.  40 hours of work, 12 hours of walking, 5.5 hours of class...it seems like my time is getting eaten up faster and faster! 

I keep saying that if I survive September I'll be ready to start the actual application after the 3 Day. That means gathering references, writing a mission statement, taking the MAT, the application itself. I guess I'll plan on setting aside some time in October to work on that...

Now for me this is a new concept, changing paths. Once I lay down a path I usually go for it with all of my heart and don't stop on the way, but this time it's different. As I've started my credentialling program, I've been having a serious case of change of heart. It seems every second day I am finding more and more reasons why I no longer want to become a math teacher. Why maybe the goal I set out so long ago couldn't foretell that I would grow up and want something more out of life. Todays thought is that teaching doesn't feel like a real job. I know you are working over 12 hours a day, but you make so little money you can't afford to do anything with it. So, y mind begins to wonder.

The hard part is mainly comes from my Armenian side. We are a very stubborn people and it's difficult for me to let things go. My intellectual side helps me out with this as my brain can control my instinct so that I don't do stupid things all the times, as tends to be the case with many Armenians. So my stubborness is telling me to just stay with the program. That I basically chose it and so I should stick with it to the end. Finish the credential year, then finish my masters year, then work as a teacher directly after without any break in my life at all. The intellectual side of me is pleading for more knowledge. My credentialling program is feeding me nothing. I have yet to feel like I am learning anything. I feel like I sit in boring class after boring class learning stuff the common human already knows. I want to go out there and learn stuff. The amount of math and physics and computer science that I can be learning instead of sitting on my butt 'learning' about education is astronomical. I could have written a whole book about mathematics in this amount of time. And I know that cause I've done it.

So what do I do? Do I let my intellectual curiosity take over and leave the program to enter the real world in order to quench my thirst for knowledge? Or do I stick with my plan from so long ago, and be the stubborn Armenian I am, and just live with it, and accept that this is life?

Questionably,
-The Cali Garmo

I used to have a page on this blog dedicated to my friend's highly-structured superhero tournament, The Master of the Universe. The tournament is fairly complex, and as such wouldn't fit comfortably in a page on this humble blog. So, without further adieu, I direct you here, to the new home of the tournament.

Rest assured, there is brainpower being spent settling those "who would win in a fight" disputes you had growing up. Characters from Star Wars, Ninja Turtles, The Karate Kid, Heroes, X-men, the NFL, and Bates College personell all make an appearance. Playoffs begin in a few weeks, so stay tuned for an official bracket. First prize wins you bragging rights as dork of the dorks.

Here's the link, again.

Nadal heads seedings for US Open

Nadal has won two Grand Slams this year

Rafael Nadal will be the top seed at a Grand Slam for the first time in his career at next week's US Open following his elevation to world number one.

Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic follow him, with Scot Andy Murray seeded sixth. Ex-world number one Lleyton Hewitt has pulled out with injury.

Ana Ivanovic is women's top seed, with Jelena Jankovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Serena Williams next.

The singles draws for the tournament will be announced on Thursday.

Nadal officially became the new world number one on Monday, ending Federer's record reign of 237 successive weeks.

Federer was the top seed at the last 18 majors.

Murray will be looking to overcome his disappointing early exit from the Beijing Olympics and rediscover the form that took him to success at the Cincinnati Masters.

The British number one's best effort in New York was in 2006 when he reached the fourth round.

Hewitt will miss the rest of the season after having arthroscopic surgery on a long-term hip problem.

"Surgery was always the last resort, but unfortunately that's what it came down to," the 27-year-old Australian said.

"I am also shattered that I can't lead the Australian Davis Cup team in Chile (in Santiago from 19-21 September) in our bid to rejoin the world group, and hope that the boys can still come through with a great win.

"I am looking forward to playing again in January in my home country, and using that as a springboard to compete at my best again on the world stage for at least a couple of more years."

The most notable absence on the women's side is world number six and 2006 champion Maria Sharapova, who announced earlier this month that she is missing the event to recover from a shoulder injury.

Anthony

Who says golf is a boring game? I barely survived the second hole of my "leisurely" Sunday afternoon round yesterday. My ball was buried in deep rough off the right side of the fairway. I had about 60 yards to the green, but there was a large elm halfway between me and the pin. I knew I'd have to power the ball out of the grass with enough oomf to punch it through the leaves. No problem. I set up with my seven and let 'er rip with maxed out swing speed and a full body turn. It hit the trunk dead square. There was a tremendous "Thwack" and suddenly the ball was heading straight for me - missile style - target locked. I chucked my club with a yell and did a ever-so-graceful backwards dive onto the grass - out of the line of fire. Time slowed, and one word, one name, flashed before my eyes as I arched through the air...MAGGERT.

What is "pulling a Maggert"?

Who pulled the first Maggert? Jeff Maggert, of course, on that infamous Sunday afternoon at the Masters five years ago. It remember watching it (on TV, tragically) as a fledgling golfer and thinking - "No, this can't be happening, this game can't be that cruel!" An oh, oh yes it can, as I have learned many times over since then. And as I picked my grass stained self up off the ground, I learned it all over again. My bullet ball had come to rest a good 25 yards behind where I'd first hit it... touché golf, touché.

(photo source: sportsillustrated.cnn.com)

There’s something about the prep for a ‘big race’ that unfolds memories from the cramped spaces of the past – the thoughts, images and feelings fan backward in ever dimming shades and echoes like the outline of your visage in a pair of dressing room mirrors.

In the two weeks preceding the annual extravaganza at Downer’s Grove a corkscrew of subtle déjà vus rotated into my consciousness and receded – flashes of memory, of sounds and scents as I pulled on my jersey over the bloom of sweat, changing clothes in the seat of my car at Bussy woods, as I pedaled circles under the arching late summer shadows on my training rides, or as I coasted into the driveway, cog ratcheting slowly to a stop as I dismounted and leaned my bike against the wall in the garage.

Downer’s Grove holds, for me, an underlying electric current - subsonic vibrations of years past – moments of ‘really living,’ including 2007’s slippery, rainy 6^th place, 2006’s battle to the finish line - finishing 2^nd by inches, of a 3^rd place in 2005 and the subsequent crash in the Master’s race. Another third back in 2004, and a win in 2003 - holding a then-toddler Katelina on the podium.

Earlier memories still: a win in 1995 when I took the sprint out with two corners to go, and the whole peleton crashed behind me blocking the entire road. That year I coasted to the line looking uncertainly behind me and seeing no one (does that count as a breakaway?) I was too confused about the disappearing act of the peleton to use the ample time for a proper hands-in-the-air celebration.

The buckled asphalt, manhole covers, paint lines, metal barriers, short steeps and false flats all re-drew themselves in the etch-a-sketch of my mind and as the day drew near I began an endless play-action exercise to trace the race that was yet to come.

Throughout it all was a feeling… A feeling that maybe, just maybe this race was to be mine. In the weekdays prior, my training reached those perfect moments of motivation aligning with performance. As the days passed my confidence grew with each training ride, until…

…Until race day – despite all the anticipation - of being inspired all week for the coming event, by the time the actual day arrived, for some reason I just didn’t want to go.

Let me clarify - it wasn’t that I didn’t want to race, and it wasn’t that I didn’t want to win (or think it possible.)

Actually the malaise I felt was directly proportional to that fact that I thought I could, even, maybe should win. It was this sense of expectation that really made the drive to Downer’s Grove an exercise in discipline. I was steeped in an unexplainable soul deadening funk.  

Being tired was one element that probably added to my lethargy – despite a truly great week of training with ample rest, there was the unfortunate timing of an event on Friday, the day before the race, where I attended (and acted as the photographer) for the wedding of my wife’s cousin up in Wisconsin Dells. The only problem was that it was a 3 hour drive each way and when we finally arrived home at midnight I was wide awake from driving and it took me until 1:30am to fall asleep.

In my own little domain, Downer’s Grove (and to a lesser extent Kenosha) is the only fiefdoms where I can claim the right to have “expectations” – due to consistent podium finishes the last 8 or so visits with the exception of last year in the rain where I ended up 6th.

The psychology of these feelings is completely irrational and an interesting contrast - when racing with the top domestic professionals on difficult courses (Superweek), I usually drive to the race inspired to give it my all, and I arrive at the line loose and ready, my will warming to the challenge and the lack of expectations invigorating my limbs. I have no real expectations - after all by all rights I should be getting my ass kicked (and often do). Conversely though, the days prior to the event are sometimes filled with visions of the suffering to come.

One might think that you might be more motivated when you are quite sure you can win, but for me, and I suspect, most, this proves not to be the case on race day. There is a stark contrast between the mentality and drive of the “what is possible” underdog role vs. the “expected” results of the consistent player. This makes the achievements of a Michael Phelps or Eric Heiden even that much more incredible - they were expected to win, they thought they could/should win, and, they STILL DID…

Despite my funk, I showed up (I had to – my friend Gary was coming.)  I managed the ‘perfect’ parking space not 50 feet from the start line and forced myself to warm up well on my trainer. (For those few that have followed these race reports it should be notable that I have had fewer and fewer ‘races to the race.’ – small self-pat on the back.)

The race itself was reasonably fast, but as expected, all breakaways were pulled back prior to the finish.

I surfed the front 20 riders for about 5 laps and then settled back into my comfortable groove in the back of the peleton. Mike Beuchel and Kent Savit were in the field and made their moves in the closing laps as we moved from time clock to lap counter but their breakaways were brought back.

Sometimes, as we get close to the final laps, I get an anxious feeling that “I need to move up now”. I can then find myself too far forward too early and end up battling the a*@hole zone for multiple laps slinging back and forth through the swirling vortex at the front of the peleton.

Other times, I feel a bit lazy (like Bensenville) and have to move up rather late in the game taking risks. At Downer’s Grove I had a clear, and accurate sense that 2 1/2 laps was the right time to get up front. More than that I also knew where on the course to move up - on the backstretch after the right hand turn on the downhill, and on the short steep hill.

2 1/2 laps to go and I put in a short sprint and swung up 30 places on the backstretch, slotting in and following wheels. As we hit the line, the race swirled all around, and riders were bumping and bruising and riding way to close to the barriers. Rationally I could see all the mayhem and it was terrifying and for sure I was on red alert with both hands on the brakes, but at the same time there was that sick, risk-loving side of me that knows that this is my element… I moved up.

I stayed in the top 20 carefully tucked in for the next lap and a half, and then, as we entered the final straightaway with 1 lap to go I had that old feeling - that “I just know what the peleton will do” feeling

I have written at length about the suffering and agony of being a sprinter, and even on this, one of the best sprinter courses in the country, I still had to suffer just to hang on. I have also written at length about the transformation that occurs as the chrysalis of limited aerobic capacity and recovery are lifted and, after 99% of the race is over, the moment arrives which all the prior suffering has delivered: those few moments where the fast twitch muscles of the sprinter are finally allowed to unfurl and fully flex - knowing that the end is near and no recovery will be required.

(Short video - last lap)

The video shows the story from here:  from seconds 0:010 to 0:30 on the video I dodge left and right, inches from the barriers and then find those opportunities emerging, parting the waters and shooting right through to the front with very little effort, coming around turn one in 3rd. All my life I have variously thought that I was a sprinter, a trackie, a crit racer, a match sprinter. Perhaps the event for my true strength doesn’t exist - I may be one of the very best ‘hole fillers’ on the planet…

After sliding up to the front on the home stretch things remain skittish and dicey around the next two corners and up the hill. At 0:52 on the video we are single file, but not going quite fast enough - and sure enough a move goes up the right and I lose my top 5 position. It is anxious up and over the top of the hill (1:05) and the following left turn and it gets even slower on the downhill (keep in mind slow is a relative concept - we are going at least 33 mph - but we need to be going closer to 40mph in order to keep the swarming moves from happening).

Finally just as we are entering the downhill right hand turn at 1:29 on the video an attack goes off the front (off camera at first) and at the same time a rider comes screaming over the top on the left side chopping the trajectory of the rider in front of me resulting in a near disaster at 1:31. I brake slightly and then burn half my match to accelerate hard and tag onto the end of the train in 8th place (there’s still a rider a ways off the front) as we then swing right to set up for the final two corners (1:48).

On the second downhill stretch the leadout man realizes he’s brought along a 10 man train and swings left and then back right (1:55 – 1:57), and we slow going into the second to last corner and I sense with impending doom exactly what will happen and swing wide: sure enough a rider dives in on me as we enter the corner - right at 2:00 my bars twitch and I see haybales as we bounce off each other going 38mph I but hold my own and slot forward one more spot coming out of the corner (2:06) and then follow the train in a near full out sprint against the headwind to enter the last corner, hoping I have something left.

As we round the final corner (2:16)  I accelerate briefly and pick off one rider on the right and then I follow rider #45 as he gets out of the saddle for his full out sprint, using his draft to accelerate. At 2:21 I light my 5 second torch and pass him to the right at 2:22 and finally see a line opening up in front of me. I give it everything I have left but it was a little too little a little too late - I heave at the leading riders and at the line at 2:27 I’m just coming around the Rock Racing guy to the left and then you can see the winner to right (who had taken off on the backstretch) raise his hands as I coast into the lead: 30 more feet to the race and I might have been able to take it home. As it is I don’t quite catch the Rock Racing guy before the line and end up 5th.

Something of note here - the video is pretty smooth. That’s because I never get out of my saddle - not once in the whole race nor the finish. I rarely do except to stretch.

(Longer video description)

This video begins with 3 laps to go.  At 1:26 with 2 ½ to go I begin my first of several moves to the front to be “in position to win.” What’s not seen on camera are a series of dive bombs, mayhem, and bumping going on all around.

I sent X to my parents for the afternoon and I think I may have come up with a thesis proposal that I'm excited about and won't involve extensive interrogation of my own cultural identity - anyone's cultural identity. At least not directly.
I'm pretty excited about having come up with this idea. So excited that I'm a bit disappointed that I've chosen to do it by creative course work because this topic has me all tingly. And I've figured out how to approach it - i.e. definitely not the way I approached my last academic project. This is definitely a topic I can stay with for a couple of years.
However before I write up this proposal I have flesh it out some more. I guess I like this topic because it's chunky. Something I can sink my teeth into. It's tangible.

But will have to flesh out the idea over bath and feeding time.

Check 't snel !

Win Masters of Hardcore Vip Tickets en een ultieme racedag op het TT-Circuit!

HA NOI — Both representatives of Viet Nam drew in the World Junior Chess Championship’s ninth round on Monday, bringing them both down in ranking.

The ninth seed of the tournament Grand Master (GM) Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son (Elo 2,579) tied unexpectedly with International Master (IM) Hrant Melkumyan (Elo 2,507) from Armenia while GM Le Quang Liem (Elo 2,577) drew with Indian IM Arun Prasad Subramanian (Elo 2,492).

Son now has six points and ranks 11th, one spot lower than the day before.

The draw has worse consequences for Liem, with 5.5 points, shooting him down three spots from 20th to 23th. It was an upset for the master who was seeded No 10 and considered a potential title candidate.

In the next round, Son will play Chinese GM Wen Yang whose Elo rating is 2,487 and Liem will face the Turkish master Atakan Sirin (Elo 2,107).

Both rivals are considered weaker than the Vietnamese representatives, with lower Elo ratings.

As for the rest of the international crowd, the youngsters’ fighting spirits carried on and the top spot changed hands again.

GM Maxim Rodshtein (Elo 2,605) of Israel crowned his comeback with a victory over one of the joint leaders GM Chao Li (Elo 2,590) from China.

However, the new sole leader is German IM Arik Braun who scored a vital win against Chinese Women GM Hou Yifan (Elo 2,557) with white pieces.

England’s GM David Howell, the player with the longest and most thrilling games, faced GM Ivan Popov (Elo 2,549) at the other side of the table and defeated him.

Braun now leads with 7.5 points followed by Howell with seven. Fourth to seventh places went to Li, GM Eltaj Safarli (Elo 2,527) of Azerbaijan and Filipino GM Wesley So (Elo 2,577) respectively.

On the girls’ side, Indian IM Dronavalli Harika (Elo 2,461) drew with her fellow patriot Women IM Swaminathan Soumya (Elo 2,293) to defend her lead with 7.5 points.

WGM Mariya Muzychuk (Elo 2,413) of Ukraine drew with Women FIDE Master (WFM) Guliskan Nakhbayeva (Elo 2,170) from Kazakhstan. Muzychuk follows Harika at seven points together with WIM Miranda Mikadze (Elo 2,258) of Georgia who defeated Russian WFM Zoja Severiukhina (Elo 2,300) to share second and third places.

The world tournament, which kicked off on August 2 and will close this Saturday, has drawn the participation of 195 masters from 60 countries.

The championships are under the auspices of FIDE and the organisation of the Turkish Chess Federation and Sehitkamil Municipality.

The winner of each group will be the player with the most points after the 13-round-robin format. —